The CBC Ombud published a landmark review of CJPME’s complaints about CBC’s claim that Israel’s occupation of Gaza “ended” in 2005. CBC Ombud Maxime Bertrand found that CBC failed to meet the “criteria for accuracy in the [CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices.]”
The CBC article misleadingly claimed:
“Israel occupied the Gaza Strip between 1967 and 2005, when it withdrew its military and forcibly evacuated 21 Jewish settlements in the territory.”
A photograph in the article included an even more overt caption that stated the claim in even more concretely false terms:
“Avi Farhan, centre, was forced to leave an Israeli settlement in Gaza in 2005, when it was evacuated and demolished after Israel's military occupation of the territory ended.”
This Ombud review is a long time in the making.
In June 2023, CJPME published an essay for journalists on “Why Gaza is "occupied" under Israeli Effective Control.” Subsequently, we sent dozens — if not hundreds — of letters to journalists and editors complaining about the misleading claim that Israeli occupation of Gaza ended in 2005 with the withdrawal of military troops.
In the letter that led to the Ombud review, CJPME argued:
“To understand how unusual CBC’s view [that Gaza isn’t occupied] is, consider that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, UN General Assembly (UNGA), European Union (EU), African Union, International Criminal Court (ICC) (both Pre-Trial Chamber I and the Office of the Prosecutor), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, as well as many international legal experts and organizations argue that Israel has occupied Palestinian territories including Gaza since 1967.
“Under international law, an occupation does not depend on whether a foreign power has a direct ground troop presence in a territory, but on whether it asserts “effective control.” … By all definitions, Gaza is occupied Palestinian territory.”
We were repeatedly ignored or outright rejected by editors when we used this line of argument, including the Globe and Mail, Associated Press, and others. After years of advocacy, we have been vindicated. Not only are media outlets misinforming the public about Gaza’s status as an occupied territory under international law, the Ombud stated:
“CBC effectively resolved a major international legal dispute in favour of [Israel’s] narrative.”
This precedent setting review gives us great leverage for further advocacy that challenges biased media which attempts to omit or falsely represent Israel’s status and responsibilities as an occupying power. CJPME is relieved to see this pernicious lie perpetuated by Canadian media deconstructed.